It's rare to find anything true in the current sea of propaganda, advertisement, disinformation, and Britney. But here is something both true and provocative. Years from now, when people reflect back to this time of eroding civil rights and growing xenophobia in America, they will say what Zbigniew Brzezinski said in this article. As he says, somehow we need to elect a president who will turn things around before they get completely out of hand.

Pihema Cameron

Recently Pihema Cameron who was 15, was murdered by a 50 year old businessman who found him tagging fences near his home. This was in New Zealand.

According to Daniel Oliver Tucker, who is completing a PHD in sociology at the University of Berkeley, "There are many reasons as to why people do graffiti. For some it is to get back at a world that they see as corrupt and unjust. For others it is for the pleasure of creation, for the art form. And for others it's a game: the object: see how much you can paint and get away with."

But could all these reasons stem from one common drive?

A term bandied around when we discuss taggers is their lack of respect. But what have we done to earn this respect? Daily they are informed about the grave possibilities of their climatic future, we expect them to pay for their education for years after they've qualified, we've bought all the houses (some inner suburbs are more than 50% investor owned) and made it so expensive to live that just the thought of trying to support a family would leave them cold, and finally we're expecting them, once they start paying taxes, to support us in our retirement.

Instead of respect, the logical emotional response to this would be anger. And the common drive of an angry youth rebelling against its conservative parents is to be heard. A want to be valued.

In the fifties the social rebels were encapsulated by Brando who, after being asked, "What are you rebelling against, Johnny?" replied "What have you got?"

In the seventies the equivalent rebels were The Sex Pistols who sparked a punk revolution.

Jello Biafra, from the band The Dead Kennedys, said "Punk will only die when corporations can exploit and mass produce it."So our corporations did. You can now pay through the nose for carefully torn jeans, and your grubby T-shirt with your anti-establishment logo is made in China.

We've exploited Brando's rebels as well. Our Wild Ones are now our fathers who, panicking through their mid-life crisis's, buy $30000 Harleys before squeezing their sofa-softened bellies into thick Italian leathers. But in our time, when our markets have perfected the art of exploiting anything that will produce a buck, we have a graffiti problem. And although a few paint shop owners have been caught selling reject spray cans out of the back door, and graffiti removalists are raking it in, big business has failed to exploit these outlaws slash artists. Instead, the taggers actually cost them money.

In fact every time a tagger tags a commercial property, a bus stop or your fence, they challenge our entire value system and disturb the Status Quo. And someone who threatens the Status Quo is a criminal in their time and, since history so often repeats itself, they will be a revered rebel in retrospect.

Dislike them or simply hate them, the true punks of our time are the taggers.

So much so that by cleaning that tag off your fence you are probably depreciating its long term value. Who knows, one day local councils might start heritage listing fences that are being tagged now.

The StayHigh149 controversy

First, I would like to point out that I usually would not involve myself in internet gossip but this has become a real problem. I have too much respect for the graffiti culture and admiration for the old school to allow this to continue. I have just recently learned that you are using my name as well as Per in supporting your claim to be StayHigh149. I will not speak for Per I can only speak for myself.

I cannot say who wrote what first because I was not there. I have been writing for 30 years so I cannot comment on what happened in the 70s. I can only go by what I learn from the old school writers who were there. I know that when we first met you told us you were StayHigh149 and we were like "no way." We even asked you if you were the guy who painted the stick figure smoking a joint and you said yes.

We had no reason to doubt you back then we weren't around in the early days to know and StayHigh had not been heard from in years we took your word for it. I have to say maybe you did write StayHigh149 first (your claim) but you are definitely not the one that people are referring to or the one responsible for all the photos we have seen published throughout the years. What I'm saying is that whether you were first or not you are not the guy who made the name famous.

No one would even be talking about any of this if it were not for the efforts of StayHigh149, Voice of the Ghetto. The man who brought us the smoking stickman. I don't have anything against you personally, you were a cool person but I cannot support you in this matter.

I now know the truth and have since met the original StayHigh149. I look back and realize that we were fooled -- the signs were always there but we just ignored them. I remember Seen UA bringing you some photos of some StayHigh pieces on trains and you said you didn't remember doing them. I found that strange but let it slide. I also noticed that the tag and stick figure you use to tag looked a little shaky but I dismissed it thinking you might be rusty. I also remember speaking to Phase 2 and he told us that the original StayHigh was black.

I remember we were starting to doubt that you were StayHigh then you went and got a StayHigh tattoo and I remember thinking damn I doubt anyone would go to those lengths if he wasn't the real person. I remember going to a Hugo Martinez gallery show with you and all the old school writers saying that the original StayHigh149 was a black guy. At this time I realize that we had been fooled.

I don't think we made a big deal of it at the time because we had become cool with you. I'm sorry that I have to speak about this publicly but you have made it a public matter. I am not attacking you but I cannot allow my name to be used in an effort to change history when I know that you are not the StayHigh who made graffiti history. Bg183 who also painted with you feels the same way. I have nothing to gain by discrediting you but I will not let history be distorted. I'm sorry but credit goes to where credit is due. I wish you much success in your other artistic ventures.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Sadly, Fuzz One's mother just passed away and he is trying to raise funds to cover her funeral costs. So if you were thinking about buying one of his new books, this is the best of all possible times to do that. Here's the info:

Fuzz says:Book is 8 1/2 by 11 inches. Heavy and almost 400 pages. All raw text of hardcore NY history.

US customers: No PayPal at all. Only checks allowed from a U.S. bank. Check or money order only. For one book only and extra artwork, the total to send is $40.00. All shipments get sent with Priority Mail and include new artwork I am doing. If you want more than one book, e-mail me for prices.

Any other country: No personal checks. Only International Money Order or U.S. dollars in cash. No Euros or other currency for now. This gets you one book and Priority Mail shipping (airmail). You can send it certified mail so you know I got it, but that is an extra expense for you. It's US$ 50.00 for one book to get sent to England. I have had a few customers from there already. It should be close to that for other European countries but I ask that you e-mail me first from where you are in order to determine if it will cost more. Send inquiries to djfuzzone@yahoo.com

I will sign each book and in most cases will add my own graffiti artwork by doing something for you and include it with the book. No other authors do that.

More than one book: If you want more than one book, send me a note to tell me how many you want and where you are. New shipping prices will be given to you.

Not doing business with any bookstores or distributors. Write your name and address neatly so I can read it when sending your payment.

"In attempt to upgrade the back of the house areas and meet the new generations taste and expectations, General Manager of five-star hotel Corinthia Prague, Christian Grage invited local Graffiti artists, Lukáš Fokt and Zsolt Farkas to take charge and 'turn the place upside down'.

"Overall, six different designs for departments such as Maintenance, Training and Kitchen have been chosen to add 'spirit' to the otherwise white walls in the traditional back of house areas. The largest piece of art is over 4 meters high and 5 meters wide and decorates the lift landing of the two lifts for back of the house transportation.

"Christian Grage, General Manager commented:

"We agreed with both artists that it's great to do such graffiti pieces on unusual places such as the back of the five-star hotel as well as being a fantastic opportunity for young people to avoid illegal graffiti on facades of buildings.

"Employees love the new art initiatives and many more departments are now putting in requests for their own personalised Graffiti pieces. I have seen so many pictures taken by proud employees in front of those new images in the back house.

Grage, who has worked with a British graffiti artist before continued:

"We must enhance employee areas and keep their smiles going. The graffiti initiative is only one small aspect of many other initiatives driven by the creative management team of Corinthia Towers Hotel.?

It's a new year, it's time to ride the wave and utilize are insights to stay ahead of the curve of change. For years and years in the music industry the majority of money for artists was based on album sales. All of your promotions and tours were tools to you promote your album in hopes to increase your album sales.

Now, with the internet and the ability to download albums the minute one person gets and uploads it, things are changing. A lot of artists get really upset and scold fans for downloading their music. I feel them on one hand but from an independant artist's standpoint i look at it like: they are still downloading and listening to YOUR music!

They can easily not download, share, listen, support your music... That's the sign of the times. I'm not saying downloading is great and not buying albums is the bomb, i'm just saying, it is what is today. We can utilize it as a tool or fight it till we are left behind. On one hand i think it's great for hip hop! ( yes actually i do!) peep.

Back before hip hop/rap was popular in the mainstream, there wasn't much focus or chance of anyone blowing up off their music.

That's when folks who really made music, made it for the love of the music and culture 1st! Once you found out you could bubble off music, the art got diluded a bit. Cats who didn't really love the art, got involved because it was a legal hustle, then followed the gangsta ( which was cool), but then came the gangsta rap trend. Cats who weren't gangstas, just folks who found out that if you rapped like a gangsta then you could sell records. BOOOOO! So now that it's almost like the early '80s all over again when it comes to artists being able to become filthy rich off of rap/hip hop, a lot of the artists who were in it just for the $$$ will fall out of the game and look for other ways to bubble and not off our art.

Not saying it's impossible to make a good living off of your music or that it's a bad goal, just that it's a little harder than before. It requires waay more hustle and learning how to use our current tools i.e., internet, FREEE DOWNLOADS, etc.

These are all ways of getting your music heard and name out, without it costing you any money! just sweat capital! good ole time and energy! (sorry for the lazy, supa star type rappers.. all real cats report to the trenches!!)

Before you would tour to promote your albums, now its getting to the point where you use your albums as a promotional tool used to promote your tours, merchandise, and all the other skills and talents you possess.

I'm with it. I'm all about the cleansing of the culture by making it harder to make $ off of it. I wouldn't have wished it upon anyone but since it's hear, note the pluses and turn them stones to gold!

So here are my last 3 albums FREEEEEEEE! yes FREEEEE you can just download it, bootleg it, share it. actually I encourage all of those! Here is my paypal if you would like to donate, break bread or contribute. Anything, nothing, all good, just optional.

You can PayPal to mrbukueone@yahoo.com No matter if you pay through props, showing up at shows and buying merch, actually paying cash or just bumping it. I am grateful for it all, I know there are millions of other artists you could be listening to :)

Sunday, February 03, 2008

You just choose your state and fill out the form online at congress.org (an organization dedicated to citizen participation and political communication tools). They have one checkbox to uncheck if you don't want their citizen alert mail, but theirs is way less invasive and promiscuous than the Rock the Vote registration process. RTV shares your information with whoever they want. Congress.org keeps it private.

Register soon if you want to vote in the presidential election this November. Please vote.

UPDATE: 149th St has posted an obituary. See the link above."We lost a beloved friend this weekend and respectfully mourn with his family and the thousands of kids, artists and fans who took inspiration from his classic film Style Wars.

"I've been a close friend of Tony's for many years and have had a special attachment to him as a person who had a great depth of intellect in all areas of his life. As a mentor and friend I have known him for his appreciation for the art of life and the life of art in others, that is why he made Style Wars and Facing the Audience a film about Marshall Arisman.

"Many of you know that I have sought to extend the legacy of his work online with the website, a labor of love I have been doing since the beginning of the internet. It was this collaboration between him, Henry and myself that helped bring more people to know and support the film. It is this collaboration that will continue on as the website goes into its next phase, realizing the enormous effect of his work and legacy on the global graffiti community.

Saturday, February 02, 2008

The candidate, Barack Obama, is worth voting for (this Tuesday, if you can), because he represents our best hope for something different and better going on in the White House and for the future of the US. Plenty of great presidents in our past had far less political experience than he. Let's elect someone with a brain, a conscience and, we can hope - integrity - this time. The world depends on us to do that.

Shepard Fairey has been putting a finer point on it lately. Perhaps he's got something to say after all. Here's another example.

Friday, February 01, 2008

UPDATE: Apparently there's an ulterior motive in having Sayed arrested and perhaps a reason to be optimistic about his fate as well according to NPR

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See the link for a synopsis of the case and a petition you can sign. It's hard to know if public disapproval can sway foreign officials, but it's worth a try when someone's life hangs in the balance.

The document he allegedly downloaded was from Iran and about Islamic thought. Makes you wonder what they would do to people who read Western secular documents.

When a country's belief system is so shaky that authorities have to kill or imprison people for thinking outside the book, its days are numbered. Suppression leads directly to keen interest in forbidden ideas. Let's hope 23-year-old Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh and the brave women of Afghanistan survive this shameful period of their country's history, and that it passes quickly into the books itself.